Nanyang Business School

Nanyang Business School MBA Interview

While individual interviews may be different, the most common structure is as follows.

The interview will start with the interviewer asking for your introduction. This question may have its own variations, such as ‘Introduce yourself, Take us through your resume, Talk about yourself’. Thereafter the interviewers will dig a bit more into your professional experience. They will take up a specific aspect of your profile and go deep in that. You should be able to answer follow-up questions on the aspect under discussion to show your depth of understanding/knowledge.

Then, they will talk about your career plans, short term and long term after completing the MBA. Here also, they will go deep into questioning every aspect of your goals. They would want to test how comfortable, real and practical are you about your goals. They can easily make out when applicants have merely prepared answers for their interview questions and when applicants genuinely are clear on their career goals. Do also have a back-up plan in place.

They will then try to see how you connect the need for an MBA and that too from Nanyang and Singapore. They would really expect pointed answers so please be specific. For example, they will ask you, “Why do you need international exposure?” They would also go deep into testing your understanding of different aspects of Nanyang MBA.

Once you have established that, they will go about asking how you will contribute to the class. This is a tricky question as you need to not just list your strengths but also link those how exactly will that help your classmates at Nanyang. You can talk about professional experiences, academic knowledge, cultural background and extra-curricular participation. You can even mention some of your personality traits that are useful at an MBA programme.

Depending on how long has your interview gone, they may ask a few other questions around your profile, especially any leadership experience or extra-curricular participation. Some applicants are asked about the latest happenings in the world and the applicant’s views on the same.

Always go prepared with a question that you can ask them at the end of the interview and it should be a genuine question you have. It could be about their program, any particular course, any specialization etc.

Go with a conversational mindset and don’t get stressed. Sound confident and make the most of it. Good luck!!

NTU MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions

Tell me about yourself/Walk me through your resume?Tell me about your greatest professional/Personal achievement?Tell me about a time when you failed?

Why MBA?Why NTU? Why Singapore?What is your short-term goal after MBA or 5-year goal? What is your long-term goal?How can you add value to our class? Why should we select you and not anyone else?

A lot of profile based questions and cross questions.

Do you have any questions for us/me?

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I was asked: Why did you choose this particular University? My answer was that it is a reputed school with well-connected network of students with diverse professional experiences. It’s crucial for me to not only learn about other industries but to expand my communication and team work skills.

Another one was: What are your plans after MBA and where do you see yourself after graduation? I said I wanted to switch industry and be in a dynamic role instead of a routine executional role. I wanted new and unfamiliar responsibilities and I knew that along the way an MBA education would help in dealing with complex business problems at the management level.

Another question was: Why do you want overseas experience? Because I applied for the dual programme with St. Gallen in Switzerland. I answered that I wanted my management learning experience to be on an international scale. I also want to be globally mobile and and have the choice of a broader range of opportunities.

The toughest questions were what I felt I could contribute to the class, and why an MBA and not other management programs that can equally elevate my management understanding.

Besides the routine questions about my strengths and weaknesses and how I could contribute to the program, I was also asked about my views on current events and to elaborate. I think they really wanted candidates who were prepared to talk about anything and everything.

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Two MBAs from Nanyang Business School share some of the questions they were asked at interview and how they responded.

We interviewed Jane Chew and Andrew Kim about their MBA admission interview at Nanyang Business School.

Jane Chew Li-Yun, 29, was born and grew up in Singapore and worked in investment banking as an operations executive in listed derivatives. She worked for OCBC Bank, Barclays Capital Futures, and Morgan Stanley.

Andrew Kim, 29, is a US national who is a periodontist and implants specialist. Andrew worked as a periodontics resident at the University of Southern California prior to the joining Nanyang last July.

How did you prepare?

Jane: Through reading other successful MBA applicants’ blogs, the GMAT website and reflecting on what I wanted to get from an MBA education. Writing down my thoughts in a document helped with this a lot.

Andrew: I prepared by reviewing some commonly asked questions and making sure that I had an intelligent answer to each.

Can you share some sample questions?

Jane: I was asked: Why did you choose this particular University? My answer was that it is a reputed school with well-connected network of students with diverse professional experiences. It’s crucial for me to not only learn about other industries but to expand my communication and team work skills.

Another one was: What are your plans after MBA and where do you see yourself after graduation? I said I wanted to switch industry and be in a dynamic role instead of a routine executional role. I wanted new and unfamiliar responsibilities and I knew that along the way an MBA education would help in dealing with complex business problems at the management level.

Another question was: Why do you want overseas experience? Because I applied for the dual programme with St. Gallen in Switzerland. I answered that I wanted my management learning experience tto be on an international scale. I also want to be globally mobile and and have the choice of a broader range of opportunities.

The toughest questions were what I felt I could contribute to the class, and why an MBA and not other management programs that can equally elevate my management understanding.

Andrew: Besides the routine questions about my strengths and weaknesses and how I could contribute to the program, I was also asked about my views on current events and to elaborate. I think they really wanted candidates who were prepared to talk about anything and everything.

Do you think it is possible to fail an MBA Admissions interview?

Jane: Yes, it is possible to fail an MBA interview especially when you show you are not sure what comes after your MBA or if you are taking your MBA just as an eye-opening experience to see what is out there.

Andrew: Yes, it is possible to bomb an MBA admissions interview. You can avoid this by being professional, courteous, and prepared.

What are your top three do’s when preparing an MBA interview?

Jane: Attend the university’s MBA information session, do your GMAT very well, check out the alumni of the university to acertain the success rate of the program. At the interview avoid saying that your MBA is your only contingency plan in case your current career does not take off or that you expect your salary be twice what it was before the MBA!

Andrew: Know why you are applying to Nanyang and why you are interested to be in Singapore.

Frequently asked Situational and Behavioural interview questions

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My 2 cents for the interview preparation –

a) Be thorough with why MBA and why an MBA at this time specifically. Especially if you’re a younger candidate with ~3 years of work experience, make sure your response is articulated properly, tying back to your goals.

b) Goals – short and long

c) Relevant industry knowledge (I’m in e-commerce and I was asked quite a few questions on how the e-comm industry is doing in the Asian markets, my company’s plans/performance in the asian markets, competitors, etc.

d) Why should you be selected and how would you add value to the batch (your value proposition)

e) Employment plans and back-up plan

Interviews generally last for 30 min (+/-5 min). Make sure you’re able to effectively communicate your clarity of thought. Finally, smile and try to have a great time

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I was invited for the coffee chat on 26th November in Mumbai but was unable to attend because I was not in India. They arranged for an interview over Skype on 28th November with professor Nilanjan Sen and Sasha Chernyshenko.

The interview was more of a conversation related to my work experience and my reason for taking up the different roles in my CV.

We also touched the topic of why MBA ? Why Nanyang? and Why Asia?

At the end of the interview they said that I can expect an update on their decision by 15th December. Also regarding the status being application under process, do not worry because even after the interview my status is still application under process. My advice will be to attend information sessions and make the school aware of your interest.

Have a Skype Interview ?

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completed my interview with Nanyang today morning. It was a very conversational interview and lasted about 20-25 min.

Tell me about the company that you work in and about your professional background.

Why MBA?

There are many good schools apart from Nanyang such as NUS and HKUST. All the three schools have a good course, so why Nanyang?

Nanyang has great brand. The company that you work in has a great brand. So what is your brand? And if I were to ask your supervisors and friends this question about you, will they back you up?

Any questions for me.

In the end he said ‘Since the change in curriculum in 2013, a lot of people with experience of more than 5 years are applying. Although the minimum work experience required is 2 years, the program is very competitive. You will come to know the results in 2-3 weeks as we prepare a final shortlist of candidates. I hope you get a lot of choices and you make the right selection.’

I dont know what to make of the things he said. I am not sure if he is giving me an indication of some sort about my admission result.

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The interview process was very smooth. The interviewer was very casual in conversation and hence this made me feel very comfortable as well. He asked me questions around

What my post mba goals are,

Why an mba,

What was my work experience, situations where i was like a consultant to a problem.

We then had a lot of discussion around my post mba industry which I wanted to work for.

He also asked me about other places where I applied and their statuses.

Later on he asked me if i had any questions for him. I asked around the curriculum and also for his opinions on recent events from my industry.

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NTU MBA Interview Questions - 4

Gave my skype interview 4 days back. Sorry for posting a little late.

Questions were very normal

1) Tell me about yourself

2) Where do you see yourself 20 years from now

3) What are your passions

4) One moment in your life that changed/Challenged you

5) ANy more questions

On the whole the mail said the interview may last as long as 30 minutes. Mine was over in 10 minutes! Donno what to make of it!!

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My interview was taken by a member of the admissions committee. It started with light chat on how was the day and journey as I traveled to Mumbai.

Questions asked:

Q1- What are you expecting from an MBA program? What influenced you to go for an MBA program?Q2- Why Nanyang & Why Singapore?Q3- Are you aware of the job scenario in Singapore?Q4- He asked me to explain the instances I mentioned in my essaysQ5- My view on the world’s economy; where is it going? Why do you want to do an MBA now and not after few years? What role would you play to bring the economy back in place?Q6- Why not a 2 year program?